1966 Vinyl Ad, Legendary Jazz Artists Count Basie & Arthur Prysock, Verve RecordsImage by classic_film Vintage 1960s record album advertisement, featuring legendary, award-winning jazz musician and bandleader Count Basie and jazz singer Arthur Prysock, Verve Records (division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.), 1966 Ad text: "Prysock sings while Basie swings... in an album that contains such good ones as I Worry 'Bout You, I Could Have Told You, Come Rain Or Come Shine and eight just as great." Brief bio on Basie, via Wikipedia: William James "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 â" April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. By 16, he increasingly played jazz piano at parties, resorts and other venues. In 1924, he went to Harlem, where his performing career expanded; he toured with groups to the major jazz cities of Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. In 1929 he joined Bennie Moten's band in Kansas City, and played with them until Moten's death in 1935. That year Basie formed his own jazz orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie's theme songs were "One O'Clock Jump," developed in 1935 in the early days of his band, and "April In Paris". [...] Frank Sinatra recorded for the first time with Basie on 1962's Sinatra-Basie and for a second studio album on 1964's It Might as Well Be Swing, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. Jones also arranged and conducted 1966's live Sinatra at the Sands which featured Sinatra with Count Basie and his orchestra at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. [...] Count Basie introduced several generations of listeners to the Big Band sound and left an influential catalog. Basie is remembered by many who worked for him as being considerate of musicians and their opinions, modest, relaxed, fun-loving, dryly witty, and always enthusiastic about his music. In his autobiography, he wrote, "I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter." * In Red Bank, New Jersey, the Count Basie Theatre, a property on Monmouth Street redeveloped for live performances, and Count Basie Field were named in his honor. * Mechanic Street, where he grew up with his family, has the honorary title of Count Basie Way. * In 2009, Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, were renamed as Paul Robeson Boulevard and Count Basie Place. The corner is the location of 555 Edgecombe Avenue, also known as the Paul Robeson Home, a National Historic Landmark where Count Basie had also lived. * In October 2013, version 3.7 of WordPress was code-named Count Basie. On May 23, 1985, William "Count" Basie was presented, posthumously, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by his son, Aaron Woodward. Basie's filmography: Hit Parade of 1943 (1943) â" as himself Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet (1950) â" as himself Cinderfella (1960) â" as himself Blazing Saddles (1974) â" as himself with his orchestra Last of the Blue Devils (1979) - interview and concert by the orchestra in documentary on Kansas City music ~~~ Bio brief on Prysock, via Wikipedia: Arthur Prysock (January 1, 1924 â" June 21, 1997) was an American jazz singer best known for his live shows and his baritone influenced by Billy Eckstine. Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Prysock moved to Hartford, Connecticut to work in the aircraft industry during World War II. In 1944 bandleader Buddy Johnson signed him as a vocalist, and Prysock became a mainstay of the live performance circuits.[2] Prysock sang on several of Johnsonâs hits on Decca Records ("Jet My Love", 1947 and "I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone", 1948) and later on Mercury Records ("Because", 1950). In 1952 Prysock went solo and signed with Decca to record the R&B hit, "I Didnât Sleep a Wink Last Night". He recorded R&B classics such as Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight". In the 1960s, Prysock joined Old Town Records and did an R&B cover of Ray Noble's ballad "The Very Thought of You" (1960) and a pop hit "Itâs Too Late Baby, Itâs Too Late" (1965). For Verve Records he recorded Arthur Prysock and Count Basie (12, 13, 14, 20 and 21 December 1965, at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey), and A Working Man's Prayer (1968). He read verses from Walter Benton's book of poems against a jazz instrumental backdrop on his 1968 album, This is My Beloved. In the 1970s, Prysock had a surprise disco hit with "When Love Is New" (Old Town, 1977) and in 1985, recorded his first new album in almost a decade, Arthur Prysock (Milestone). He gained further attention for his tender, soulful singing on a beer commercial, "Tonight, tonight, let it be LÃ¶wenbrÃ¤u." The selection whose lyrics were revised for the LÃ¶wenbrÃ¤u Beer jingle was originally titled "Here's To Good Friends." Prysock received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1995. ******************* Published in Ebony, July 1966 - Vol 21, No. 9 Fair use/no known copyright. If you use this photo, please provide attribution credit; not for commercial use (see Creative Commons license)